I’m Just Leveling up Efficiently, but for Some Reason, the People Around Me Seem to Be Looking at Me With Disapproval - Chapter 8

When Avi reached the square, a strange scene was spreading out in front of her.

Yushuu, covered in blood, was fighting a huge Ugly Pig Captain Orc.

To begin with, the fact that it was even a real fight felt wrong.

Yushuu was small.

He was just a thirteen-year-old kid.

His body hadn’t finished growing yet.

On the other side was a giant monster.

One swing of its arm looked like it could easily crush a human.

Yet Yushuu wouldn’t back down.

He was still fighting.

(…Why? Why is Yushuu pushing himself this far to fight…!)

Her chest felt tight.

It felt like it was going to burst.

But.

Even so.

Yushuu was smiling.

In front of that terrifying enemy, the Ugly Pig Captain Orc, he was smiling.

(No… that’s not it. He’s not really smiling. He’s probably forcing himself to smile.)

Avi thought.

That smile on Yushuu’s face was for everyone else.

So they wouldn’t come to help.

So they wouldn’t worry about him.

He was smiling on purpose.

Even while fighting a desperate battle, he was still thinking about everyone.

To Avi, that Yushuu looked somehow sad.

It meant he was trying to fight alone.

It meant he was trying to carry the fate of the whole village on his small back.

What a cruel fate that was.

Avi couldn’t help thinking that.

(I can’t leave him alone…! If I leave Yushuu by himself here, I’ll definitely regret it! He’ll go somewhere I can never reach again…!)

That’s what Avi thought.

So she took one step forward.

Of course she was scared.

The Ugly Pig Captain Orc was terrifying.

But the thought of Yushuu going somewhere far away scared her even more.

(That’s why——!)

Avi gathered all her courage.

She stepped forward one step at a time.

“Yushuu!”

Avi shouted.

Her voice barely reached him.

Yushuu was too focused on the enemy right in front of him.

But that was okay.

Avi prayed with everything she had.

With all her strength.

She prayed as hard as she could.

In that moment.

The stamina Yushuu had been using up recovered, and he got his sharpness back.

(Please take it, Yushuu. This is the best I can do right now——!)

* * *

“…Hm?”

About thirty minutes into the boss fight.

The fight still wasn’t ending.

Wounds were slowly starting to build up on his body.

He was the one who had aimed for a long fight.

But around this time he started to feel his stamina dropping.

Suddenly his stamina recovered in an instant, and Yushuu tilted his head.

He caught a glimpse of Avi at the edge of his vision.

He understood right away.

(I see… so it’s Avi…)

He got it.

Avi had probably awakened her status too.

And she had used some kind of skill on him.

——In other words, skills existed in this world.

But when he thought about it, that was obvious.

The magic power, reason, and faith stats all pointed to the existence of skills and magic.

It wasn’t strange at all for those concepts to exist.

(Why did I miss something so simple… In that case, even the current me should be able to get one or two skills without any problem.)

While thinking that, Yushuu dodged the Ugly Pig Captain Orc’s attacks and kept thinking.

How did you get skills?

Was there some kind of system for it?

Or did they appear naturally like with Avi?

It was hard to believe Avi already knew about that kind of thing.

They had been together the whole time, so there was no way she knew something he didn’t.

That meant Avi had simply awakened that skill.

She must have wanted to help him so badly that it appeared naturally.

So maybe strong feelings were needed?

But it probably wasn’t just that…

If skills were rare, then the magic power, reason, and faith stats would be wasted points.

If he had designed this world, he wouldn’t make dead stats like that.

So there had to be a proper way to obtain skills——.

“You brat… All you do is run away. Can’t even land one counterattack?”

The Ugly Pig Captain Orc, whose attacks kept missing, said with veins popping on his forehead.

Yushuu ignored the orc’s words and kept thinking deeper.

——So there was probably some kind of trigger phrase, like with status.

For example, something like——

“Skills.”

The moment he said it.

A semi-transparent window appeared in front of him with a whoosh.

――――――――――
Owned Skill Points: 74
▼ Learned Skills
▼ Available Skills
+ [Swordsmanship Skill List]
+ [Greatsword Skill List]
+ [Dual Wield Skill List]
+ [Spear Skill List]
・
・
・
――――――――――

It’s here, it’s here, it’s here!

This is it!

This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for!

Yushuu’s mood shot up in an instant.

All that low energy from before was gone.

Feeling excited, he quickly scanned through the list.

…Normally he would want to check each one carefully.

But he didn’t have time for that.

An angry Ugly Pig Captain Orc was right in front of him.

No time to take it slow.

He made a quick decision and picked one skill.

Right away, knowledge of how to use the skill flowed into his brain.

…Hmm.

Interesting.

This is interesting.

With this he could probably beat the Ugly Pig Captain Orc.

Thinking that, Yushuu gripped his knife tighter and faced the Ugly Pig Captain Orc again.

“All right. Let’s start the second round.”